The Tower of Blight has invaded Hal's home of Brightsong.
Though the Abyss beckons to Hal, an old foe resurfaces. Poisoning his home, the Shadesblight cannot be ignored. The Tower of Blight will corrupt the entirety of the Shiverglades if Hal does not stop it.
With bitter winter setting in, Hal will have to battle more than the corruption on his doorstep, but the very elements themselves. As the armies of the Twelve Tribes march on Brightsong, Hal and his allies don't have the luxury of time to deal with the Tower.
Every floor presents life-or-death battles, even as loot and new monster powers dangle like bait. But there is a silver lining. The arrival of the Tower allows for a new ally to join the Bravers, one with a penchant for creation and thievery in equal measure.
But even with this new ally, Hal and his companions will be hard-pressed to climb to the top of the Tower and snuff out the Shadesblight before it destroys their home.
My name is James T. Callum and I’m not going to talk to you in the third person or make it seem like I’ve got some publisher or editor who has a bio on me.
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There is such a thing as to much foreshadowing. For over half this series we have been told about the twelve tribes coming and in the last book it was supposed to be only a few weeks away. Then we get this whole book which was an amazing side quest and that would have been fine (SPOILER ALERT) MC accidentally gets teleported away as everyone arrives. Maybe it’s just me but I can’t stand when a series just feels like filling book after side quest and the main plot or overall arc doesn’t move forward several books in a row.
Wow! Soooooooo friggintastic! I loved this book, this series! So that's a fine mess of an ending! Wow! Lucky me the next book is already downloaded! 😆 This time Hal and friends/family not just need to get stronger but, they finally hafta confront the Shadesblight! Or die trying! Oh and finally, Finally Hal got a card to improve Noth's armor, and 'Shrubley's' coffee beans was a happy note in Hal's day! So yeah, grab the audiobook and find out how that works out!
Here's a couple of quotes:
"If you could give them a v12 engine, they would have it disassembled before afternoon tea. By dinnertime, they would have upgraded it beyond recognition to run on banana peels and grass clippings."
“One ring to bind them,” Val whispered. “My precious!” Shadowmachi wheezed."
Hal can’t seem to get a break, but he is growing to embody exactly what the Worldshard seems to need from him. I love that we continue to see cameos from the other Worldshards.
What is Rabst doing? And why does she seem to be working against Rinbast? What will the 12 tribes do to Brightsong when they see its power? Will they feel threatened? Or will their seers recognize the hope that it represents?
A perfect example of why use two sentences when two pages will do. For all that, I still enjoyed the story though I found myself skimming more than I prefer.
One big issue this book had, aside from verbosity, was the abundance of useless POVs. So many that do nothing but add word count. It's not like most of those characters mattered in the slightest for the story. None of the povs advanced a plot, character arc or anything. Just pointless and slowed down the pacing.
A lot of fun, but the progression of the story feels a little lacking.
So we get plenty of cool power ups for Hal and company, but the story doesn’t feel like it progressed much. We got new added quests and things that going forward will be cool, but this felt like a series of side quests that kept things from really moving the plot forward much. And then we get a cliffhanger of an ending. So I enjoyed it, but it was a little bit of a letdown.
For the 2nd or 3rd time in the series this volume end with Hal being randomly inexplicably teleported while on a time crunch to artificially inflate the tension for the next volume while also managing to undermine the power of the Manatree and spoiling an otherwise excellent instalment.
This book leaves off with the same question of last book. Our boy is supposed to meet with the tribes, but somehow he won’t at this time. Anyway he’s lost in a dungeon and needs to get out and back to his settlement.
Even another great book in the series. Good characters and their adventures with treasures to be had and always a conflict and battle to be solved and,won. Can't wait until next book is released.
I would say my favorite addition to the book was Hermes who's antics made me laugh. This book also seems to be working towards solidifying lore and world building with nods to other series within the universe.
It's a good story underneath all the multiverse, parallel dimensions, and constant callbacks to other books. Great motivator to read other books, but my opinion is still valid that it confuses me to everlasting flork.
Well I am really really happy with this one! This book had All sorts of different and interesting things going on. I am curious about where some of the threads are going but Ian sure that it’s goi g to be awesome! Start at book 1 they are All good!
Damn I'm just blown away,the book was definitely the best one to date. I can't wait till the next book now,it going to be a long wait but definitely well worth it 😌
The first quarter of the book is very heavy with lit rpg crunchyness and crafting that I didn't really care for. The story felt a little 2nd hand to that, but the 2nd half really came through